elwaps

Just installed 2.26 and regenerated everything. This time I got working Real Roads, foliage as expected but still weird LOD fragments in lantern poles. Nontheless, most of my Skyrim beginning to look awesome is thanks to you, so... thank you! :) So instead of flowers here's some DynDOLODed shots.

I got another riddle for you, hope you don't hate me for 'spamming' your thread. While testing visual/environmental mods (such as all tree mods available, landscape stuff, bridges, roads) I occasionally saw LOD fragments in Lanterns of Skyrim-lantern poles aswell as Real Roads not working and being flat. In addition to that it seemed that either Enhanced Vanilla Trees (or Enhanced Landscapes) were deactivated. I usually regenerate LODs after adding a (few) new mods to test and sometimes this happened, sometimes it didn't. I didn't have a clue and randomly enabled and disabled mods and changed load order until I used the console and saw DynDOLOD making the last change to the lantern pole aswell as to the road. So here's what a quick test revealed. This is how my Skyrim looked with DynDOLOD and all its addons (Whiterun Exterior etc) aswell as the Lanterns of Skyrim Preset active and DynDOLOD output (with its esp) and TexGen output active. Note the lack of foliage, the flat road and the weird LOD fragment in the pole. I then saved the game, left the game, deactivated DynDOLOD, its addons, the preset and the output, restarted the game and reloaded my save. This is what I got: - LOD fragment in lantern pole disappeared - Foliage looked like it should with EVT+EL - Real Roads worked again I'm pretty sure I somehow messed up but I got no idea what could have been my mistake. Is there something to keep in mind when generating with LoS, EVT and Real Roads? For the last few times I only cleared the output folders and the cache before regenerating, should I always clear the entire folder and reinstall DynDOLOD Standalone from the zip files instead? Or do you have another idea about what could cause this weird behaviour? I think I've posted my DynDOLOD settings and stuff before but just to be sure... Mod Organizer Left Pane Load Order (everything that could be remotely involved) - ... - Static Mesh Improvement Mod - ... - Skyrim Realistic Overhaul - Skyrim Realistic Overhaul ADDON Classic Skyrim - Vivid Landscapes all in One - Vivid Landscapes all in One ADDON 4K Textures - A Quality World Map - Skyrim High Definition LODs Dark and Grassy - Skyrim High Definition LODs ADDON Dragonborn Dark - High Quality LODs Meshes - Verdant - DynDOLOD 2.22 - DynDOLOD ADDON Desync Birds of Prey - DynDOLOD ADDON High Hrothgar Window Glow - DynDOLOD ADDON Solitude Exterior - DynDOLOD ADDON Vvardenfell 3D Plume - DynDOLOD ADDON Whiterun Exterior - Lanterns Of Skyrim - Lanterns of Skyrim ADDON Lantern Caretakers - Enhanced Vanilla Trees [REINSTALL] - Enhanced Vanilla Trees Billboards Generator [REINSTALL] - Cover Woods - Cover Woods ADDON Parallax - Skyrim Bridges - Real Roads for Skyrim - Real Roads for Skyrim ADDON DLCs - Alternative Road Textures - ... - Immersive Fallen Trees - ... - Lanterns of Skyrim PATCH Dawnguard - Vivid Landscapes all in One PATCH Static Mesh Improvement Mod Farmhouse - DynDOLOD PATCH Lanterns of Skyrim (this is the preset) - ... - OUTPUT DynDOLOD - OUTPUT TexGen Mod Organizer Right Pane Plugin Load Order is sorted by LOOT with DynDOLOD.esp loading last DynDOLOD - Standalone 2.25 - LODGen 1.20 - .ini-files are default except for TreeLOD=0 - Generating all world spaces at once - Default 'High' preset except for neverfade ships, candles checked and tile size 2048 - Output is C:\DynDOLOD OUTPUT respectively C:\TexGen OUTPUT - No UAC, user is admin, full access to both folders is granted, MO is launched as admin

Even when you want to use the larger windmills without sails? I once saw a detailed guide on what to install in which order with which options to be fine without SkyFalls but I can't find it atm, I currently got purple fan textures. Could you push me into the right direction? Awesome. Caribou LODs were indeed working with TreeLOD=0. I won't keep Caribou in my load order due to low quality and too bright looking textures but that's good to know for future additions :) Works as indended, thanks alot! Now, if I would just set trees to Full/Full/Full and Far Full... :D One more question about the (MO left pane) load order. Please tell me if I'm annoying you but you seem to be like a Mr Miagi of Skyrim modding to me. Load order. Do you sort ALL your mods individually? Or - in case of larger load orders - do you use categories to rougly sort? I tend to loosely stick to STEP recommendations (base game > extenders > fixes > interface > new locations > body > npcs/creatures > clothing/equipment > textures/meshes > environment > quests > animations/effects > sound > gameplay > enb/weather > patches > patcher output) but especially with texture packs and environmental mods exact load order seems to be critical and I haven't found a way besides trial and error yet. Just thinking of things like SMIM, ELFX, EVT, Parallax stuff - getting the load order wrong will almost always lead to glitches or even instability.

I still got to test it with my full load order (>300 esps) but that'll have to wait until I figured out the perfect combination of base graphics mods and brought myself up to date with merging. So far, thanks to you and the seemingly unproblematic Enhanced Vanilla Trees/Enhanced Landscapes working with TreeLOD=0, everything works fine. I don't think I'm gonna integrate SFO or SSBT anyway, those were the mods causing the most crashes during generation - and EVT looks better anyway! I always wondered why I couldn't see any transitions in GTA while having those unimmersive super visible ones in Skyrim. Using TreeLOD=0 with EVT and EL looks waaaaay better, still it costs about 15% fps. I don't mind that using the GTX1080 but I don't think this method is feasible for many people. But reading your post it doesn't seem there'd be anyone able (or, with usable Skyrim SE waiting ahead, willing) to create some morphing technique for Oldrim... Its definitely 3D models having those visible changes. Mostly its shadowing but sometimes you can clearly see the model changing its shape a bit. One of the most obvious models flickering, by the way, is the light tree with the brownish parts in the middle of the middle screenshot above. I haven't been touching ugrids for ages for a reason. This, however, sounds awesome. Aswell as water being more dynamic, Real Shelter becoming redundant, engine stability being lightyears ahead of Oldrim, memory limits,... can't wait for fixes and things like SKSE64! Great to hear you Skyrim modding gods already having a plan! :) Just three more things 1) Just re-generated with the settings mentioned above, adding SkyFalls+SkyMills, SMIM, Skyrim Better Roads, Real Roads for Skyrim, Fences of Skyrim and Immersive Fallen Trees - still no crashes :) 2) I will keep using EVT+EL with TreeLOD=0. However, there's a few mods adding some trees without the possibility to use TreeLOD=0, where I would have to use billboards. One example would be the non-replacer version of Caribou Gone. How do I mix non-billboard mods with those? First generating with only EVT+EL activated and TreeLOD=0 and then deactivating everything besides Caribou Gone and generate with TreeLOD=1 and then merge the resulting folders? Or, as Caribou doesn't add many trees in its non replacer version, generating with TreeLOD=0 and Fallback? Never worked for me so far... 3) I've seen you writing one should set boats and ships to neverFade as there's no DynDOLOD models for them (and the regular LOD looks horrible) - so how do I do this? /edit Just another random DynDOLOD High TreeLOD=0, Enhanced Vanilla Trees, Enhanced Landscapes shot to say thank you again ^^

Just tested DynDOLOD 2.25 with LODGen.exe 1.20 with Enhanced Vanilla Trees 1.6.9 and Enhanced Landscapes 1.4 using TreeLOD=0, all worldspaces at once, candles option checked, max tile size 2048 and the rest at default. Worked flawlessly. And looks great. :) The only thing that bothers me a bit is that I sometimes still got visible 'LOD' to full 3D model transitions (for example approaching the forest south of Dawnstar when coming from Dawnstar and the small tree groups near Whiterun when coming from the meadery) aswell as very visible flickering during transition (for example when entering Dragonbridge coming from Solitude). I got videos of both effects, they occur with Enhanced Landscapes aswell as without it. I could upload them if those effects aren't indended/known (as in 'can't be fixed due to engine limitations'). I also sometimes get trees not being fully loaded when I quickly change viewing direction, you can clearly see them being drawn and shadowed. Doesn't seem to be connected to tree density, also happened outside Whiterun.

Allright, after setting all fans to 'turbo' I went down 5-6°C on 100% load and now never surpass 60°C. I immediately re-ran Skyrim Landscape Overhaul and the results (randomly?) changed. Now, if I run the generation, there are no 'stopped working' errors but instead the TES5Edit script runs until its end but finishes with a 'line 390' error. When you check the CMD-window it seems to be stuck at generating objects for dlc2solstheim world, if you click the window it will crash. This is what Mod Organizer gave me afterwards: DEBUG (19:49:21.0070): hooks removed ----------- LOG END ----------- DEBUG (20:00:44.0500): hooks removed INFO (20:00:44.0523): Windows Exception (c0000005). Last hooked call: int __stdcall GetFileAttributesExW_rep(const wchar_t *,enum _GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS,void *) ERROR (20:00:44.0523): This is a critical error, the application will probably crash now. INFO (20:00:44.0558): Windows Exception (c0000005). Origin: "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\mscordacwks.dll" (58a156ef). Last hooked call: int __stdcall GetFileAttributesExW_rep(const wchar_t *,enum _GET_FILEEX_INFO_LEVELS,void *) ERROR (20:00:44.0564): Crash dump created as C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\ModOrganizer\hook.dll.dmp. Please send this file to the developer of MO DEBUG (20:01:00.0089): hooks removed ----------- LOG END ----------- So it seems to be a Mod Organizer related crash? Or could it help to just reinstall NET? To sum it up, I currently got about three different errors: - 'line 390 End of file' happening at the end of the generation process with Skyrim Landscape Overhaul, giving me the error seen above - freezing at generating atlas textures happening after about 3 minutes with Skyrim Landscape Overhaul, disappeared since increasting CPU cooling (coincidence?) - crashing LODGenCMD.exe happening during generation of Tamriel world happening with both versions of Skyrim Flora Overhaul and Skysight, occasional errors (couldn't copy one so far)

Continued testing... Skysight Simply Better Trees + Skysight Simply Better Trees Billboards (taken from TES5LODGen) = One more crash, unfortunately without MO error, then gave it up. Will try to reproduce earlier error when I'm done with the rest. Caribou Gone Non Replacer Version + respective billboards = No crashes Distinct Skyrim Landscapes (billboards included) = No crashes Skyrim Landscape Overhaul (billboards included) = Two freezes during 'generating atlas textures' without LODGenCMD.exe running, not working so far Allright. I thought they were somehow important as DynDOLOD doesn't work if billboards are missing. Thought there could be faulty billboards or something as crashes seem to be very dependent on which tree/landscape mod is active while generating. CPU is on stock clock and stock voltage CPU temperature with turbo clock and Prime95 running at 100% on 12 threads in 'In-place large FFTs' mode stays below 65°C RAM (DDR3 2133) is currently running on conserative default timings @1600MHz Board is relatively new and doesn't show any signs of damage SSD is reserved for Skyrim alone and doesn't show any signs of damage System didn't have any bluescreens or other crashes since it was installed I will try that specifically for the SFO, SSBT and SDL after testing the rest of the bunch. /edit Duh, I've just realized the Tcase for my 3930K is 66.8°C. Sorry if I should have stolen your time and all my problems came from my CPU running into its temp limit. I'm reading alot about people running it at 70°C and above and I'm pretty sure there's nothing pushing the temps as much as Prime95 and theoretically, instead of producing errors, the CPU should just reduce its clock a bit when hitting the limits - still, this will be the first thing I'm gonna test now.

Allright, after some tree testing with a minimal setup (~50 esps, mostly fixes, no textures except for Vivid Landscapes, no environment mods except for Realistic Water Two, Verdant and Skyrim High Definition LODs) I observed the following: DynDOLOD 2.24 (no ini-edits, all lands, high preset, candles checked, max tile size 2048, everything else on default) Vanilla Trees + Indistinguishable Vanilla Tree Billboards = No crashes Vanilla Trees + Vanilla Skyrim LOD Billboards (taken from TES5LODGen) = No crashes Skyrim Flora Overhaul 2.5b + Skyrim Flora Overhaul 2.5b Billboards = Crashed first (LODGenCMD stopped working), worked on 2nd try Skyrim Flora Overhaul 1.87 + Skyrim Flora Overhaul 1.87 Billboards = Crashed first, then replaced LODGen.exe and LODGen64.exe with your 1.10 version and tried again. Now froze during process the first time but worked the second time. Skysight Simply Better Trees + Skysight Simply Better Trees Billboards (taken from TES5LODGen) = Crashed three times in a row, not working yet. MO gave me a crashlog of the last crash but I just realized it was deleted while I was writing these lines. Will post it as soon as it reappears.

As today I'm not really in the mood for play(test)ing or reading about and experimenting with merging plugins (unavoidable next step for my build) I'm gonna run a few more generations with the exact same settings while monitoring the RAM usage of the first LODGen process to test my hypothesis. While doing that I will record every single run to be able to analyze stuff afterwards I haven't noticed during the run itself. I'm as sure as one can be that my system is stable. Nonetheless I'm gonna run Prime95 and Furmark for a few hours tomorrow during work while logging temperatures plus a few passes of Memtest during dinner. However, I don't want to rape my SSD with write-testing all day, so I'll have to stick with perfectly fine SMART values. > Skyrim is not installed to the programs or even Windows folder but to C:\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim > DynDOLOD is installed to ..\skyrim\DynDOLOD and thereby not under the influence of MO, which is located in ..\skyrim\ModOrganizer > UAC is disabled, MO is running as administrator and full access to the skyrim folder is given to everyone (just to be sure) > Microsoft Security Essentials is disabled all the time except for when I go online > All drivers except the nVidia one are installed manually (pointing driver installation to inf-files instead of using the setups) to avoid unneccessary software installations > Since getting a new board the system hasn't crashed once for about a year, neither my pretty cluttered Win10 or my freshly installed Skyrim-Win7 on its separate SSD Gonna check this, perhaps I accidentially deleted the output without thinking about it. But first I'm gonna replicate the crashes a few more times. Got your intention, thanks so much for help and your top notch support in general. I'll be back soon... ;) /edit Should I still test with your modified LODGen files (the 1041kB ones) or the original ones that come with 2.24? Tested with the modified ones so far.

Ran it a second time, crashed again after roughly 8 minutes with about 1.75GB RAM usage. Correlation or causation...?

Unfortunately for me it doesn't become available but keeps being greyed out. Perhaps I just need the explanation for dummies... I start DynDOLOD in expert mode, select a random worldspace from the dropdown - nothing happens to the Execute button. Load the high preset - nothing happens. Change random options like Tile Size or LOD Brightness - nothing happens. Change output path - nothing happens. Change the TreeLOD and Fallback options in the ini - nothing happens. Am I doing sth. wrong? /edit Ran the regular tool again with TreeLOD=0 and TreeFullFallBack=1, crashed again after crossing the 1.7GB RAM line. At that moment the DynDOLOD process and the LODGen one both used about 1.75GB.

Its not totally random. The CPU isn't overclocked and just like the GPU does not overheat. The 2133MHz RAM is currently running at 1600 with pretty conserative default settings because I was too lazy to fiddle with the XMP profiles after a BIOS reset so far. The environment is a freshly installed W7x64 on a separate SSD solely intended for Skyrim (see W10 DX9 VRAM limit), still with pretty default settings (UAC is deactivated tho). MSE is the most basic antivirus you could possibly imagine AND is deactivated Until now I could observe > the process was more stable with less mods (you don't say!) > generating 'regular' LODs with TreeLOD=1 and TreeFullFallBack=0 works almost every single time (just did it without errors) > generating LODs with TreeLOD=0 and TreeFullFallBack=0 often needs 2-3 runs to finish properly but then works fine > generating LODs with TreeLOD=0 and TreeFullFallBack=1 never finished properly but always crashed so far > the time it runs before crashing is always roughly the same - after 7 to 10 minutes, depending on overall duration and thereby settings, but never before 7 minutes > my crashes are always memory crashes but the stage of the process in which the crash occurs seems to be 'random'* *you can see this when comparing the screenshot with the short video: in the former it crashed while creataing atlas textures, in the latter it crashed during the 'Waiting for LODGen.exe to finish...' stage. This needs further experimenting, I will have an eye on the RAM usage of the first LODGen process to start, on the combined RAM usage of DynDOLOD and the LODGen processes together and if there's any number (around 1.8GB) correlating to crashes Testing your suggestions now...

Allright, here we go > Rebooted computer > Deactivated Microsoft Security Essentials > Deleted everything in DynDOLOD folder except for the two LODGen-files you gave me earlier > Reinstalled it from the 2.4 Standalone zip > Deleted DynDOLOD and TexGen output > Ran LOOT > Deactivated BirdsHFClean.esp, Bashed Patch, 0.esp, NoLeveledItemRewards.esp, WTF.esp and Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp in MO > Edited DynDOLOD_TES5.ini: TreeLOD=0, TreeFullFallBack=1 > Started DynDOLOD through MO > Choosing options: Chose all Worlds, Ticket Candles, Set Output Path to C:\OUTPUT DynDOLOD\, Loaded high Rules, Set max Tile Size to 2048, Set LOD Brightness to 5 > Clicked OK... Screencapture of the crash itself plus a few seconds before and after https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mcx3ckXm4A Screencapture of several minutes before the crash till the final error after the crash* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jqmfhN3MEU *uploading and processing not finished yet, will take a while I thought I give it a shot with EVT 3D trees combined with SFO 2.5b fallback trees, just to see where I would end up framerate-wise. However, I haven't managed to finish even one single successful LOD generation.

I finally managed to catch the little brat while crashing. Seems like I'd be running out of memory. Would fit the inconsistent timing and reproducability. I found out the crashing isn't directly connected to using the fallback option or not but while creating non-fallback LODs 'only' took me 3 shots to complete, I've never successfully created fallback LODs. Can be randomness due to few tries tho. I am using MO which doesn't support the x64 version running through it, I assume going for x64 would solve my problem? Do you know any way to bypass the x86 restriction of MO? Or a way to run the x64 version standalone while using MO's folder structure? Gonna retry now with performance monitor on now...

Thanks. I've used the files you provided and everything worked. Can't tell if it was due to the new files tho, as the error isn't perfectly reproducible. I'll try with fallback and the new files the next time I'm generating.